FOXBORO -- Early on Wednesday, Bill Belichick explained why the Patriots' joint practices and preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last month don't lead to any advantages or disadvantages for either team.

In a conference call a few hours later, Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano agreed with Belichick, saying that the familiarity won't be what leads to a win.

"Well I think if there's any [advantages], it's negated because they practiced against us as well," said Schiano. "So I think we both had equal opportunity to see each other.

"I thought it was really good work for our football team, more important than any advantage or disadvantage. It was great work. We got better as a result of it. And now it's game time, and we're game planning for each other. We are fitting our schemes to our opponents strengths and weaknesses and our strengths and weaknesses. So it's really a whole different kind of thing that we're involved in right now."